China's fiscal revenues rise 8.2% in July

BEIJING -- China's fiscal revenues grew 8.2 percent year-on-year to 1.07 trillion yuan ($168.77 billion) in July, the Ministry of Finance said Friday.

The country's central fiscal revenues rose 6.4 percent year-on-year to 556.2 billion yuan last month, while that of local governments was up 10.2 percent to 511 billion yuan, according to a statement on the ministry's website.

During the first seven months of the year, the nation's fiscal revenues expanded by 11.6 percent from one year earlier to 7.45 trillion yuan, down from the 30.5-percent growth seen in the same period last year, according to the statement.

The ministry attributed the slower growth to the slowing economy, dropping inflation and structural tax reductions.

China's economy expanded 7.8 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2012, down 1.8 percentage points from one year earlier.

The inflation rate, meanwhile, eased to a 30-month low of 1.8 percent in July, according to official data.

Tax revenues nationwide climbed 9 percent year-on-year to 6.4 trillion yuan in the first seven months, accounting for nearly 86 percent of the nation's total fiscal revenues.

In July, revenues from value-added taxes, which make up a major part of total tax revenues, edged up 0.7 percent year-on-year to 176.8 billion yuan.

The low growth was a result of a slowdown in industrial growth, a moderation in consumer prices and structural tax cuts, according to the statement.

Corporate income taxes paid by industrial enterprises slid 10.7 percent year-on-year to 107.7 billion yuan last month, largely due to falling profits.

The ministry said revenues from land sales slid 27.1 percent year-on-year to 1.35 trillion yuan during the January-July period.

The country's fiscal expenditures totaled 6.34 trillion yuan in the first seven months, up 23.4 percent from a year ago, according to the statement.